Now, here's one for the file marked 'The Manaudou Effect': myself, and Georges Kiehl - a former French Olympic swimmer who was there to see Fraser win the triple and Schollander become the first to win four medals in the Olympic pool (lucky man) - agree that the following is the fastest domestic women's 200m s/c freestyle ever (if you know differently, let us know - no yards please):

At the French s/c nationals in Nimes, a warm-up for the European s/c championships this coming week in Debrecen, Hungary:

Laure Manaudou: (Canet 66) 1:53.88 (championship record)

Camille Mufat (Olympic Nice Natation) 1:54.89
Coralie Balmy (Dauphins Toulouse OEC) 1:55.97
Cyriell Etienne (Dauphins etc) 1:56.25
Mylène Lazare (ASPTT Montpellier) 1:56.51
Céline Couderc (CN Cevennes Ales) 1:56.72
Gabriella Fagundez (SWE, based at CANET 66) 1:56.86
Aurore Mongel (Mulhouse ON) 1:57.07

Fagundez cannot count for France, of course, but what a relay and relay backup in the making. And Popchanka, first in a then European record in a final at Euro s/c championships last year that offers the only international example of a faster final field than the French nationals, is Down Under training at the moment and would have been up there alongside Manaudou. The Down Under nationals, quick as they were, produced a slower field than that in France.

Elsewhere in Nimes, the first day of the championships saw five French records fall:

Diane Bui Duyet's 57.80 over 100m butterfly confined to history Alena Popchanka's 58.27 from 2005. Over 50m, Popchanka still holds sway, with a 26.41 from 2006, compared to Duyet's 26.48 in Nimes. Anne Sophie Le Paranthoen, down from 1:08.04 in 2005 to 1:07.42 over 100m breaststroke. Sophie De Ronchi and Laure Manaudou swam inside De Ronchi's 1:00.81 over 100m medley, De Ronchi keeping the record, with a 1:00.34, to Manaudou's 1:00.68.

The 200m backstroke for men was another tight race to produce two inside the former record: Simon Dufour's 2002 1:54.14 is no more, after Benjamin Stasiulis and Pierre Roger clocked 1:52.11 and 1:52.49 respectively. Antoine Galavtine clocked 53.07 over 100m medley.

On day two, four more French records fell: Muffat took out Manaudou's 400m medley mark of 4:33.73, with a 4:31.66, and Coralie Dobral clocked 2:24.98 over 200m breaststroke to race inside the 1999 200m breaststroke standard of Karine Bremond, at 2:25.97.

Stasiulis and Roger clashed again, over 100m backstroke, 52.22 and 52.28 the result in favour of Stasiulis, which wiped out Roger's 52.86 from 2003. Galavtine also took a second mark: 23.43 over 50m butterfly.